Commission on Presidential Debates

CPD is a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization. Its main purpose is to organize presidential and vice presidential debates. It sponsored all presidential debates since 1988. Obviously it is impossible to have every presidential candidate in a debate. CPD has a criteria for selecting candidates for the presidential debates.

Here are their selection criteria:(source)

1. Evidence of Constitutional Eligibility

The CPD's first criterion requires satisfaction of the eligibility requirements of Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution. The requirements are satisfied if the candidate:

a. is at least 35 years of age;

b. is a Natural Born Citizen of the United States and a resident of the United States for fourteen years.

c. is otherwise eligible under the Constitution.

2. Evidence of Ballot Access

The CPD's second criterion requires that the candidate qualify to have his/her name appear on enough state ballots to have at least a mathematical chance of securing an Electoral College majority in the 2004 general election. Under the Constitution, the candidate who receives a majority of votes in the Electoral College, at least 270 votes, is elected President regardless of the popular vote.

3. Indicators of Electoral Support

The CPD's third criterion requires that the candidate have a level of support of at least 15% (fifteen percent) of the national electorate as determined by five selected national public opinion polling organizations, using the average of those organizations' most recent publicly reported results at the time of the determination

There are some organizations trying to put 3rd party candidates into presidential debates. They offer alternative criteria which seem more reasonable.

Their alternatives are:

1. Ask people who they want to see in the presidential debates and see who gets support of 50% or more, OR Having 5% of votes in a national poll.(source)

2. Let every candidate who is on enough state ballots that mathematically can win the election be in the debates. (source)

It seems that their alternatives are more reasonable than what CPD does right now! However CPD says that presidential debates are where the people get to know candidates who have logical chance for being elected. They argue that a presidential debate is not a place that candidates start launching their campaigns.

By the way, here are the sponsors of CPD's previous debates.